Alek and Deryn "Friendship to Love"

They had hated each other. The spoiled, Clanker boy with a rich family who'd saved her from a frostbitten bum, and Deryn. Not quite hate, but a mutual distrust born of war, and, in Deryn's case, a vested interest in keeping certain… aspects of her person secret. But that was only for a little while, because the mad Clanker seemed determined on worming his way past her defences. They were great friends, the two of them. He'd just last week taught her how to fence (although, she was barking terrified when she realised just how close he got), and she'd helped him about the airship when she wasn't working for the mad boffin. Just friends, so why did her skin crackle like the dance of electriks across the airbeast's skin whenever he touched her? She was sure it wasn't anything special, right? He was just… exotic, that was it. The son of a bloody Arch-Duke fellow and a princess, from a Clanker country. She'd told him about her da, even, and she hadn't even admitted that to Newkirk or anyone but Jaspert.

And now, she was sitting in the egg room, waiting on her way to Constantinople- which Dr. Barlow insisted was Istanbul, because even names changed before the British Army. And Alec had said he wanted to escape, and she'd be damned if she didn't want to help him. Damned if she didn't want to run away with him, desert the Navy and blend into Istanbul's culture, just a wee lass sticking as close as she could to her man- not her man, she reminded herself sharply. He didn't even know that she wasn't a swaggering lad named Dylan who was brave enough to throw himself off the side of a bloody airship to save a fellow middy rather than a terrified girl who was half trying to run as far away from that flaming ball in the sky as trying to save Newkirk.

He was gone, and she was running to a hotel she'd never heard of in a strange city, hoping against hope that none of the vitriolic barnacles were noticed, that her men weren't fool enough to spill that there'd been a middy leading them. And it was him in an elevator in a barking posh hotel with a barking posh girl dressed in the epitome of barking poshness. She ran, fast as she could, trying to get to the boy she love- yeah. Bloody hell. She loved him. And he still thought she was a boy, instead of a dirt-common lass with a dirt-common crush on a boy thousands of miles out of her league and her life.

He'd told Dylan his last secret, and he felt so relieved. Like all of the weight he'd been carrying since his parents' death and his flight were gone for good, not just at bay while he worked on an engine or fenced on the dorsal side. The boy knew who he was, at last. Volger be damned, it felt good. And then the boy had asked about Lillit, and he remembered that he might have fancied the anarchist girl in a different life, one where he wasn't a symbol of what the Committee was trying to destroy. A rivalry, of course not. No girl could change his friendship with Dylan. It looked like the airman was going to tell Alek something, and then he'd asked about Lillit. Not that Alek minded in the least. Lillit was a pretty lass, and the anarchist and the airman, apart from sounding like a title of a ballad, were both strong. They had so much in common that it was easy to see. So why, precisely, was Alek annoyed at Dylan for liking her?

Deryn was such a bloody barking fool. She'd almost told him, and it had turned into a barking query about a barking girl who no she did not fancy because she wasn't a he thank you and besides she was in love with Alek even though they'd never be together and- Lillit walked in with a bundle of metal strips and poles for the Spider. She wouldn't ever tell him, no matter how much it weighed on her heart, because she knew he was friends with Dylan, and she equally knew that he'd never be just friends with Deryn. Oh, and he was the bloody archduke of Austria-Hungary. That didn't make things easier, she reflected as she mechanically placed the parts in their areas.

Deryn. Funny name, Deryn. Wasn't a boy's name, not in the least. That explained a lot, actually. And- oh God, what had he done?! Hugged her, damn near kissed her- that would explain her reaction to Lillit… Oh God oh God oh God he was such a fool. So many signs, and he'd just ignored them and gotten so close and wait did he no he couldn't could he it was just platonic feelings for the boy- girl- gah! It didn't matter that her features, which were a tad feminine for a man, were quite flattering as a girl's face, or that the body which she took such pains to hide was- Enough. Stop. He needed to focus on being an archduke or anything but a lovestruck village boy following her every word.

They watched the scroll arc into the sea, and Alek knew he'd already run a mile to get her to stay with him. Without being an archduke, he could fade into obscurity. So what that if the emperor died Austria-Hungary would be consumed by civil war? She was pressed up against him and they were kissing as they watched the perfect sky. And he realised that just perhaps Deryn Sharp, midshipman on the Leviathan, was worth losing a kingdom for, because she was a queen in her own right.

A/N I've loved these books for years, and finally got around to writing something for them. Sorry about the sketchy knowledge of Goliath! I've only read it once, so it makes it hard to actually use plot details…

Anyways, bye for now,

Tsubaki